I got tired of not being able to lock my car, and I'm broke!
Here is a step by step on how to re-key your doors to use the key you have.  I would guess I'm not the only one that has no door key and money!!  Anyway, the whole process only took about a hour.

all you have to do to remove the handle is take out the 2 screws in the door right above the latch.  Then PUSH the handle forward about a 1/4 in. it should pull straight out now.


This is the handle on the inside


remove the single flat tip screw and remove the housing

more

You don't need to push the roll pin all the way out!


Here is the lock lever off.


Here is the spring and lock lever

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Here is the cyl. out of the button, you can see the tumblers and what broke off of the set screw.


Here is the tumblers with my key in the lock.  All you have to do is grind them flat to the cyl with your key inserted and all is good, you can also just take them out but then any key will work. The key holds the tumblers & springs in the cyl. when apart


Here is the tumblers cut down to match my key.  When the key is removed the tumblers will stick up and prevent the cyl. from turning.

Yep ! Thats the way we did them. Amazing enough that type of door lock was one of the hardest to do . Most of the time the guide pin would be broken off. Good job!   :thumbs-up:

You lazy !!   Come on, anybody who would bust his butt trying to make a road grader out of his Bug , doesn't have front shocks because they will not fit anymore and ends up dragging his horn off and throwing it at the Dude behind him cannot be lazy. Maybe a little challenge in some areas and he is worried about "taking on "  a door handle ?  You ain't right Boy
      :lol:  :lol:

Careful there attack chicken . . . that's how I started and I ended up taking a mail order locksmith course and buying out a closed down locksmith shop!   :lol:  

If you can, gather up several old broken door handles before you start.  Take 'em apart and separate the pins into sizes . . . sliding them onto an un-cut key blank makes separating them into different sizes easier.  Depending on the particular lock you are working on their will be either 3 or 4 sizes of pins.  From there it’s pretty easy to re-key the lock to fit an existing key without having to file any pins down.  And David is right about that being a hard one!  The later "trigger" style handles are MUCH easier to take apart.  One easy-to-remove screw holds the cylinder in place.

A neat trick is to fill the cylinder up with the pins that go where the key isn't cut . . . a key blank will work it, but any key with any notches in it will not work.

Now I'm going to climb up on my "certified locksmith" soapbox and ask one thing of anyone doing this . . . please file or grind off the old code number if you re-key a lock.  It might save a hard to find key blank or twelve sometime down the road if a future owner takes it to locksmith shop to have a key cut to code.  :wink:

As for paying me to do it . . . I’ve got a Vanagon handle that I was supposed to have re-keyed and given to the owner at Bug-A-Paluza.  Still haven’t gotten to it.  :oops:  I promise I will soon!!!  After I get that one done, I’ve got to work on my 96 Passat.  I’ve got one key for the ignition switch and a different one for the driver’s door.  Neither of them fit any of the other locks on the car.

It's OK Zen... just so long as I get the lock & key back at some point... I am in the triangle and the Vanagon is in FL so I won't be able to reunite the two anytime soon anyhow... maybe for Bug Jam?  :lol:

Zen do you have the inserts for your struts or are you replacing the whole strut ? I have the spring compresser ( the safe one) if you need it. I would check the caps to make sure the top bushing/bearing are ok. They have a lot of slop when new so just make sure that they are not locked up.